Police have arrested three youths of Kotahimai Rural Municipality in Rupandehi on charges of gang-raping a girl.

Manohar Chaudhary (Kurmi), an education technical assistant at Kotahimai Rural Municipality, allegedly took the girl to a hotel on August 21 under the pretext of attending a training session and raped her.

Mukesh Kumar Chaudhary (Kurmi) of ward 5 of Kotahimai Rural Municipality and Shailesh Kumar Pandey of ward 3 allegedly joined Manohar at the hotel.

According to the girl’s relatives, she was held hostage and allegedly raped by the three men. They also accused Mukesh of abandoning her near her village the following day.

Manohar Bhatta, spokesperson for the District Police Office, Rupandehi, said the three suspects were arrested after the victim filed a complaint on Saturday. “We have launched an investigation into the incident and called the victim to the district police,” Bhatta said.